QUOTE OF THE DAY
On Tuesday the Tax Foundation releases its 2015 State Business Tax Climate Index and once again Wyoming leads the nation in welcoming commerce. Last year the state’s economy recorded real GDP growth of 7.6%, according to the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis.
You won’t find growth like that in New York or New Jersey, the high-tax locales that once again finished 49th and 50th among the states. New Jersey eked out real GDP growth of 1.1% last year, while New York’s economy grew an anemic 0.7%.
The annual ranking measures the impact of policies in place as of July 1 on five types of taxes on business activities, mainly considering the amount a state takes from its citizens but also the weight of its compliance burden. The five categories are individual and corporate income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes and unemployment insurance taxes.
The Umlaut: How Uber and Airbnb Resurrect ‘Dead Capital’
Arguably the two biggest economic stories of the last decade are the Great Recession and the rise of a category of new businesses that turn noncommercial capital and individuals’ spare time into valuable commercial assets. It’s too early to say which will have the greater lasting impact in fifty years’ time, but there’s a strong case to be made for the latter.
If the key economic trend of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was the growth of economies of scale—factories, big firms, multinationals—we are now seeing the opposite. And nowhere is the discontinuity with the industrial past more evident than with the new firms using smartphone apps and online markets to meet consumer demand for services ranging from physical storage space to urban transportation—a list that continues to expand and may soon impact virtually every corner of commercial life.
AEI: America’s crony capitalism challenge
Crony capitalism’s increasing influence is sapping the vitality out of the US economy and undermining public support for the American model of capitalism.
The remarkable success of the United States’ exceptional form of capitalism since the Republic’s very inception has been made possible by widespread public support for that system. Sadly, in recent years that support has been seriously eroded as Americans have experienced declining income growth and perceived that any gains are unevenly distributed. Capitalism’s reputation has also been tarnished because policy decisions are often viewed as reflecting the preferences of lobbyists and the well-connected few, not the general public.
The growth of government and lobbying, along with the increasing costs of election campaigns, are main contributors to the rise of crony capitalism. Reversing these trends is the major long-run challenge for our country if its highly successful brand of capitalism, which has served us so well, is to be strengthened and sustained.
Chicago Sun Times: Clout hires, consultants at Chicago’s tourism trough
Two years ago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel struck a deal with the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau with the aim of attracting 50 million visitors a year to the city by 2020.
The mayor eliminated City Hall’s tourism office, transferring many of its duties to the private, not-for-profit convention bureau, whose board was chaired at the time by Bruce Rauner, now the Republican candidate for governor.
The combined tourism operation, renamed Choose Chicago, gets about $8 million a year from the city under the arrangement — part of $28.4 million in city and state tax money in its 2013-14 budget.
Red Eye Chicago: CTA: No fare hikes in 2015
CTA riders will not have to pay more in fares next year, but they will see an increase in rail service during rush hour, according to the transit agency’s proposed 2015 budget released early Monday.
The freezing of fares is good news for riders who last year endured an increase in the cost of unlimited ride passes and the price of rides from O’Hare Airport, from $2.25 to $5.
The CTA is proposing a $1.44 billion operating budget in 2015 that is about 4 percent higher than this year’s $1.38 billion operating budget and depends on ridership gains.
Huffington Post: 22 Percent Of Americans Would Rather Die Than Retire Without Enough Money
Saving for retirement is scary. So little is knowable, and so much is uncontrollable and uncertain. A new survey from Wells Fargo reinforces just how anxious middle-class Americans are over how much financial security they will have once they retire, if they can ever afford to.
Wells Fargo found that “22 percent of the middle class say they would rather ‘die early’ than not have enough money to live comfortably in retirement.”
This is the depressing state of retirement in America: survey questions that pose an early death as a viable alternative to comfortable retirement.
Chicago Sun Times: Illinois aims to improve Medicaid patients’ coordination of care
Taking care of Sandra Tobar’s 14-month-old Camillah is often more involved than feeding her or changing her diaper.
Camillah has constant doctor appointments for a variety of issues caused by a rare condition that delays growth and development. Emergencies have sent Camillah to the hospital 12 times since she was born, Tobar said.
“I try my best,” said the 30-year-old Tobar, who lives in the Avondale neighborhood. But she admits it can be stressful because she stays at home to also take care of her 12-year-old son while her husband works.
Chicago Tribune: CHA backing $13 an hour minimum wage, mayor’s office says
Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s efforts to position himself as a champion of higher wages continued Monday with his administration’s announcement that the Chicago Housing Authority has agreed to his suggestion to require contractors and subcontractors to pay workers at least $13 an hour.
The CHA’s decision to honor the $13 wage comes after Emanuel said last month that he had asked the city’s sister agencies — the Public Building Commission, Chicago Public Schools, the Chicago Transit Authority, Chicago City Colleges and the Chicago Park District, in addition to the CHA — to adopt the standard.
The CTA also has set the $13 pay floor for contractors and subcontractors, according to Emanuel’s office. The mayor signed an executive order in early September requiring city of Chicago contractors and subcontractors to pay at least $13.
US News: No, Uber and Lyft Won’t Hurt Consumers
A group of prominent economists recently and universally approved of the new transportation services being provided by Uber and Lyft, noting the benefit to consumers. Though most people are now recognizing the benefits of new, cheap transportation services, some are decrying the dangers of an unregulated market. This particular criticism accuses Uber and Lyft of engaging in a turf war that could hypothetically result in one of the firms replacing traditional cab services with a resulting glut of idling cabs, belching exhaust and clogging the streets.
There’s nothing wrong with a healthy skepticism of the benefits of new goods and services, but musing on potential hazards to the environment and misplaced fears of monopoly expose a fundamental misunderstanding of how markets work. While competition is certainly fierce in the current turf war between different transportation services, consumers will almost certainly come out winners – despite fears to the contrary – as people benefit from lower fares, expanded service and greater control of customer feedback.
CARTOON OF THE DAY
